IFM Investors Pty Ltd Boosts Position in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Bio-Techne Co. (NASDAQ:TECH - Free Report) by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,432 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,815 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Bio-Techne were worth $3,152,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Bio-Techne by 92.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,746,119 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $404,470,000 after buying an additional 2,755,065 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in Bio-Techne by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,714,994 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $122,879,000 after buying an additional 290,510 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Bio-Techne by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,862,260 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $205,081,000 after buying an additional 216,044 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Bio-Techne by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,589,799 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $185,559,000 after buying an additional 88,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Bio-Techne by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 894,352 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $64,082,000 after buying an additional 76,641 shares during the last quarter. 98.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bio-Techne Price Performance

Bio-Techne stock traded up $1.70 during trading on Monday, reaching $70.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,066,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,009,076. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $73.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.50. Bio-Techne Co. has a 1-year low of $51.79 and a 1-year high of $85.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.09 billion, a PE ratio of 55.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 3.87.

Bio-Techne (NASDAQ:TECH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.49. Bio-Techne had a net margin of 14.50% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $306.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $306.49 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bio-Techne Co. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bio-Techne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Bio-Techne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TECH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Bio-Techne from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Bio-Techne from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Bio-Techne in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.60.

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells life science reagents, instruments, and services for the research and clinical diagnostic markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Greater China, rest of Asia-Pacific, and internationally.